Seems the original, real-deal sleeping technology of the new world were hammocks 17-18' long, 9-12' wide. Did you know? Suddenly 11', "extra wide" hammocks seem puny.
I'd read that Columbus first mentioned hammocks in writing. I'd read several characterizations about his journeys. Somehow I never thought to read his journals and other primary "first contact" accounts myself. He's not a good writer. He's actually a jerk (to put it mildly: http://theoatmeal.com/comics/columbus_day) making me a bit sad and mad to share European heritage with him, but let's not get too political. Reading between the lines of his narrative is gripping.
Full text of the first journal is here: http://eada.lib.umd.edu/text-entries/journal/
If you can't handle the stilted style, some summary comments and highlights:
Spain at the time felt itself under siege by Islam to the south and east. Spain had also freshly conducted a pogrom against Jews. Columbus' journey was a quasi-military exercise against Islam, the idea being that if the people behind the Muslims (Indians) could be converted to Christianity, then Islam would be better contained, having Christians on all flanks except south. So sneak around the muslims by sailing west to plant some christianity bombs... brilliant plan Christopher!
The first "Indians" he met, he seemed surprised were friendly. After all he'd just declared their island as belonging to Spain in some lawyerly ceremonies involving flags and insignia, and immediately began searching for (their) gold. He presented a sword, and the people grabbed the blade cutting themselves, having no understanding of arms. He remarked that they were healthy and attractive, without distended bellies. Said they'd make excellent servants, and proposed to kidnap some home to teach Spanish. Said that with 50 men he could conquer and rule them all. And oh yeah, since they were docile and "had no religion" they could surely be converted to "our holy faith" without much force. How nice!
But about their living arrangements, he says their houses are clean and well swept, very tall, shaped like tents (?) and that they store their stuff and sleep in cotton nets. That they call hamacas. Note the dual-use: not just sleeping but gear hammocks. Perhaps the well-swept/clean remark reflects the extent of the use of gear hammocks: little or nothing on the floor to harbor pests or filth. These were after all fishers in island homes in prime hurricane territory: having homes on stilts where nothing's on the ground to be swept away in storm surges, everything hanging, is smart.
They also row boats called canoas: these are the first 2 words to cross from new to old world: hammock and canoe. Columbus wanted gold above all, and was annoyed when they wouldn't give or trade for what little he saw of it. But what the people did present for trade were hammocks, rowing up alongside the big boats in their canoes. I see this as Columbus missing the true gold offered him.
Elsewhere Bartolome de las Casas, bishop of Chiapas in following decades, who was less of a jerk than Columbus, described the hammocks in more detail, saying that they were loose looped open weave, the bed part being as long as a man (let's say 5-6'). Then in addition to this were the cords on either side of the bed surface, each 6' long terminating in a fist-like knot, tied to the posts of their houses. So 17-18' long all told! Then he says the better ones were 3-4 yards (rods) wide (9-12'), and that the users laid across. Transverse like Amok? At that width you could! At that width and length indeed you could probably accommodate a whole small family, multiple sleepers finding their own little pockets in the mesh.
A hammock this long, you'd need to hang very high to keep off the ground. This might account for the great height of the houses remarked by Columbus. Plugging numbers into Derek's hang calculator, hang points easily above 9' assuming any suspension at all between knot and post.
Suddenly I want to make a mega-hammock.
Amerigo Vespucci followed closely upon Columbus's tracks. His journeys (either 2 or 4, in dispute) took him mainly along the coast of South America, quite a lot of it. (The Americas bear his name because unlike Columbus who died stubbornly believing he'd landed on the far side of Asia, Vespucci knew he'd found a "new world.") He also remarks that the people sleep in nets, even declaring that they are more comfortable than "coverlets" (sheeted beds). He also details that when a person is gravely ill, they will hang his or her hammock in the forest, perform dances around it for a day, leave food and water near the head, then leave. If the person recovers enough to return to the village, great. Otherwise they die there. If I don't die suddenly, I think a hammock would be a nice place to let go.
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Originally Posted by Watertooner
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